Autobahn
by irock708
Summary: Arnold comes to visit Helga seven years after he departed Hillwood. Takes place after The Jungle Movie and is in the time period of The Patakis. One-shot. AXH. Reviews would be greatly appreciated.


**Author's Note:** Hey, all. This is my first HA! fanfic and it's also my first fic that I've written (and completed) in the past four years. Shoot. So, yeah. Forgive me if I'm a little rusty, but I really felt the urge to do this. I was greatly inspired by the song Autobahn by Anberlin, hence the title. Look it up if you like romantic-y songs because it's definitely one of the most romantic songs I've ever heard. And I listen to a lot of music. But anyways. Go easy on the reviews, and I hope you enjoy this. I'll see if I can whip up some more song-inspired one-shots, hah.

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**Autobahn**

It was the summer of junior year and Helga G. Pataki was upset. Another year had gone by without her beloved football-headed object of desire. Even the temporary, although long, break from schoolwork and the average everyday high school drama couldn't cheer her up the slightest bit. She knew that in her heart the only thing that would bring joy to her life was to see Arnold once again.

"Helga!" Phoebe, her long-time best friend, yelled at her, pulling her away from her depressing thoughts.

"What?"

"I asked you if you had any plans for the summer."

"None that I know of," Helga said bluntly.

"Oh. So you'll be staying in Hillwood the whole summer long then, right?" Phoebe asked inquiringly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Helga sighed. "Why? You want to hang out with me sometime over the break?"

"Oh, no, I can't." Helga gave her a look. "I'm going to be very busy studying for my SAT this whole time. Not to mention, I believe we're going to visit some of my relatives in Japan."

"Then why'd you ask me that question then?" Helga asked, irritable. There was no point if she couldn't even hang out with her.

"Oh, you know. It's just a popular topic these days." Phoebe looked at her watch. "Oh, I have to go. Gerald and I are going to have one last date before the official start of summer. He has to work at Mrs. Vitello's all summer long."

"Y'know, summer technically started when the bell rang to let us know that school is over for the next two months."

Phoebe sighed at her friend's smart reply. "I'll see you when I can, OK Helga?"

"Yeah, yeah. Now go to your boyfriend before he starts thinking that you stood him up or something. As if you ever would." Helga added this last line with a smile.

Phoebe smiled back and waved goodbye to her friend. Helga couldn't help but feel a sting of jealousy as her friend left. If only she could do things like that with Arnold.

***

Phoebe got to Gerald's locker just in time.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied, smiling upon seeing her. As she smiled back, Gerald got right down to business. "So. Is she doing anything?"

Phoebe's smile grew wider. "Nope. Nothing at all. She'll be in Hillwood all summer long."

"Perfect."

***

It had been two weeks since school had ended and Helga was already itching to go back. It was just too darn boring! Phoebe had her SAT crap, Geraldo had his flower shop business to attend to, the trio consisting of Sid, Stinky, and Harold decided that it would be a neat idea to go to a baseball camp together, and there was no _way_ that she would go to one of Princess Lloyd's dumb makeover slumber parties. No freakin' way.

Sure, she killed time by watching countless hours of Wrestlemania (all thanks to Miriam getting her the season DVD's for Christmas), going on her computer, reading the occasional book, and even doing some of her summer work for school. But it simply wasn't enough.

***

Helga was in the living room watching yet another episode of Wrestlemania. Bob was at work and Miriam was actually spending time with another human being (a friend from her twelve-step program). Olga was at some local soup kitchen, being the perfect daughter that she had been all her life, helping to feed the poor saps who couldn't afford their own food. Helga was alone.

Once the episode finished, Helga decided that she was hungry. It was seven o'clock and she guessed that it would probably be dinner time if her family were here, anyway. She went to the kitchen to get some food. She looked at the refrigerator only to find some disgusting leftovers from the night before—they were probably hers to begin with. As she started to open the shelves, there was the ring of the doorbell.

"Huh. Wonder who that could be," Helga mumbled to herself.

As she started to open the door, Helga couldn't believe her eyes. Tall, blonde, and with an oddly-shaped head, there was Arnold standing on her stoop.

"A-A-Arnold?" Helga stuttered.

"Hi Helga. It's been a while," Arnold said casually. The sound of his voice almost made Helga melt inside. If it wasn't for the total anger and sadness she felt both coming on so strongly.

Helga's fists were clenched, but even before one of them could land itself onto any part of her desired target, she began to cry uncontrollably. The weight of her sadness was so great that she fell, only to be caught in Arnold's arms.

"There, there now," Arnold said amidst her sobbing. "I'm here."

The next half an hour or so that happened after that were just blurs to Helga. She could remember Arnold stepping inside the house while holding her hand, as he carefully led her into her own home. She could remember receiving some kind of meal from Arnold that he probably heated up from the microwave—probably the leftovers that she originally didn't want. She could remember, although very vaguely, her trying to talk to Arnold in-between sobs about how she missed him all these years and how sorry she was that she never wrote back despite the fact that he wrote to her every single day. She could remember him looking at her apologetically as she continued to cry like a baby, as if _he _was the one who should apologize to her. The thought made Helga snort. That was just typical Arnold for you.

"Helga?" Arnold asked. "Are you OK now?"

She didn't even realize that he was still there. He looked extremely worried. And all because she decided to bawl like a baby upon seeing him.

"Yeah. I think I'm OK now," Helga answered weakly.

The smile that shone on his face was almost contagious. "That's good to hear."

Helga couldn't help but catch his smile.

"Now, would you mind if I take you for a ride?"

"Huh? A ride to where?"

"It's a surprise."

***

The ride to… wherever Arnold was taking her was one of the best things to happen to her in the seven years that Arnold wasn't in Hillwood. During the long, but very entertaining ride, Arnold reminisced with Helga about the sorts of things they had together went through all the way from pre-school to that moment that led them to where they were now: Arnold's trek to San Lorenzo to find his parents… and their kiss.

"Man, I couldn't believe _Geraldo_ had to come in and interrupt us," Helga blurted.

Arnold laughed. "Yeah, I know. I'm just glad that he decided to keep it secret."

"Of _course_, he kept it secret. I told him to. Otherwise I would rip his nose out and sell it to Michael Jackson on eBay, so he would never see it again."

Arnold couldn't help but crack up at this last comment. He missed her somewhat ridiculous threats. "Oh, we're here," he said, interrupting his own laughter.

"Finally," Helga grumbled. Arnold gave her a look. "What? We've been on the road for an hour and a half. Aren't you tired?"

"You can't be tired for this," Arnold said as he got out of the car enthusiastically. "Come on."

Helga sighed as she let him grab her hand and pull her to whatever was so interesting at the top of a mountain or whatever this was supposed to be. She didn't really pay much attention to their surroundings as she was having too good a time just talking to the old Footballhead again.

"Helga, look at it." He paused, taking it in himself. "Isn't it great?"

At first, Helga didn't know what he was talking about, but as she realized what he was referring to, the beauty of it hit her. It was a fantastic view of Hillwood at night time with all of the city's lights on. It really was a wonderful view.

"My dad told me about it," Arnold said, his voice covered with a layer of awe. "I never knew it would look _this_ beautiful."

"It's amazing," Helga thought aloud.

She sat down and Arnold sat down along with her. Their hands met and they stared into each other lovingly.

But Helga's big mouth had to ruin the moment with a sigh. "Arnold. Why did you take me here? Why did you go to my house? Why are you even here at Hillwood? Don't you have school at… wherever you go to school now?"

Arnold sighed in reply. "Helga, look. I don't care that you feel guilty for not replying to any of my letters. I wasn't writing them just for your sake; I was writing them for mine."

"Huh?" Confusion hit Helga faster than the baseball that Arnold beaned her with back in fourth-grade.

"I figured out about a month or so of unreplied letters that you simply couldn't bear to reply back to me. Why you couldn't bear, I honestly don't know and probably never will. But that was OK. I figured that you would at least read my letters and that was enough for me. As long as you knew that I still existed, I was OK."

"Oh, Arnold," Helga said. Before she could stop herself, she kissed Arnold very gently.

"I love you, Arnold," Helga said, holding his hand as she continued to gaze at the incredible view.

"I love you, too, Helga," Arnold echoed.

***

"Well, here we are, Helga. Your house," Arnold said as he stopped the car.

Helga didn't want to get out. She wanted to stay with Arnold for as long as she could.

"Helga, come on. It's late. Your family must be worried sick about you."

"Heh, like they're even at home yet," Helga said crudely.

"Helga, I'm here all summer. We can hang out tomorrow and the next day and the day after that—"

"That's not going to be enough, Arnold. It never will be."

Arnold sighed. "Unless I live here again, right?"

Helga nodded.

Arnold sighed again. "Helga—"

"I know, I know. It's selfish, but… I miss you."

"And it was eight years before I got to see my parents again."

Silence.

"Helga, look. Not everything is going to be there for you forever. Including me. But while I am here, let's just enjoy the time we have together. I don't know when I can visit Hillwood again, so I want to make this the best summer possible."

He was right, but..

"What about when you do leave again?" Helga asked, with a hint of fear in her voice.

"You have a computer, right?" Helga nodded. Arnold began to search for a pen and a piece of paper around the car. It was difficult finding either, considering it was Gerald's car. (Gerald had graciously let his best friend borrow the car when he read Arnold's plan to reunite with Helga. He thought it was incredibly sweet of him.) He eventually found what he was looking for and scribbled on a piece of paper what appeared to be an e-mail address. "It'll just be like writing letters only faster. Plus, I know you'll respond."

"What makes you think that?"

"I learned in San Lorenzo the computer can make you do a _lot_ of things. My parents got me one recently to help me out with my schoolwork. I usually get it done pretty fast on the computer. Responding to me should be no different."

"But what if I still don't reply?"

"It'll still be OK." Arnold kissed the top of her head. "Good night, Helga. I'll come here tomorrow at ten so we can spend tomorrow together."

Arnold started to turn on the car again, but before he could even put the car in gear, Helga shouted: "Wait!"

Before Arnold could ask, Helga just yelled "Just wait, will ya?" and ran to her house.

A few minutes later, Helga came out of the house carrying a box labeled "To Arnold." She put this box in the passenger seat and said "Don't look at them until you're back in—"

"San Lorenzo."

"Wherever. Just don't forget to pack them in with you when you fly back, OK?" She reached into the car and pecked him on the cheek.

Arnold had a wide grin on his face as he drove away.

***

Arnold sighed as he began to unpack all of his things from his vacation in Hillwood. He had such a great time. He had missed that little town, with all of his friends, the boarders, and even the people in town. All of his friends had given him something to remember them by: a small ceramic pumpkin from Stinky (the baseball camp was only three weeks long and he, Sid, and Harold were back in Hillwood just in time to spend a few baseball games with Arnold); an old shirt from Gerald from back when they were in the fourth-grade (with his favorite number "33", of course), an empty wrapper of a Mr. Fudgy Bar from Harold, Phoebe's old calculator from elementary, a nice designer sweater from Rhonda, a pencil from Curly—there were so many.

Arnold remembered about the box that Helga had given him, however, and quickly ran to open the box labeled "To Arnold."

As he flung open the box, he was greeted with notebooks. Little pink notebooks. Tons of 'em.

Arnold carefully opened one of them and smiled as he saw the first words on the first page: "Dear Arnold…"

He looked out the window of his bedroom that night, and gazed at the stars, remembering the night that he took Helga to see a view that was just as amazing as what he was looking at right now. He smiled at the thought of her and hoped that he would be seeing her again soon.


End file.
